ESPN issues on-air apology for James Carville, SEC comments

ESPN apologized on air after guest James Carville claimed the Southeastern Conference was helping a college football team, Yahoo Sports reported.

During his appearance on ESPN, Carville, a fan of Louisiana State University, political commentator and former campaign manager for former president Bill Clinton, claimed the SEC removed players from other teams to benefit the University of Alabama team.

ESPN’s Chris Cotter said on air Nov. 3: “We have an apology to make on behalf of ESPN. While appearing as a guest on College GameDay earlier today James Carville offered his thoughts on SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. As we regularly demonstrate here on ESPN, diverse opinions are encouraged, however these actions were over the top and we’d like to apologize to Commissioner Sankey for that.”

On Twitter, Carville called the apology “gutless” and claimed ESPN was trying “to bow down to the SEC.”

ESPN Communications – College Sports manager Derek Volner declined to comment beyond its apology, but said it was more about the sweatshirt Carville wore on air, which read “Greg Sankey [heart emoji] Alabama Bec Mon Tchu Si’ll Vous Plait”